A Beautiful Lie
by TheDevilsLotus
Summary: An AU of the episode 'Cruel Dilemma' - What if, instead of saving Yumi when she falls into the digital sea, Jeremie chooses to save Aelita instead? What are the consequences of his choices when it sets the whole Lyoko gang against him for it? And will Xana use this opportunity to his advantage, perhaps plotting out his most devastating attack yet? Find out here!
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:**** I DO NOT OWN CODE LYOKO. IT IS THE RIGHTFUL PROPERTY OF ANTEFILMS/MOONSCO****OP.**

**AN:**** Hey guys, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I decided I wou****ld return with a force, and this is just one of two big fanfics that I hope to complete on here! Now this fic is based on episode 6, 'Cruel Dilemma' with a twist - what if Jeremie chose to save Aelita instead of Yumi? What would be the consequences of that? Whenever I watch the English dub of that scene, where the group contemplates whether to save Aelita or Yumi, I always got the impression that Jeremie somehow would've chosen Aelita (I have no idea, and I'm definitely certain that he wouldn't have anyways).**

**So that speculation is where this fanfic comes to life. Now because this is an AU, there may be OOCness abound, but I'll try my best to keep the characters as true as possible, even within the different storyline. I always appreciate feedback from you guys on what you enjoy about this, or what you think I need to work on concerning it!**

**Now I may present to you my new fic - A Beautiful Lie!**

* * *

**Prologue**

The only sounds within the room itself came from the computer, the click-clatter of data and programs ignored in favor of mourning. It had only been mere moments ago that they...

"I never thought it was possible, for one of us to become..." spoke up Jeremie, from his position in his chair. His head was averted from the computer screen, and his eyes were turned completely towards his feet.

Jeremie's comment drew partial life back into the room as Ulrich was the next to speak up, his voice poignant with all the remorse that had built within him, "It's all my fault. If I had been faster, she would still be here."

Yumi. They lost Yumi, valued member of their team and close friend. The first casualty in over the year they had been fighting Xana to fall victim to the digital sea. No longer would she attend Kadic Academy with them, or laugh at Odd whenever he attempted to make a stupid joke, or even join in with a bite of sarcasm when it concerned teasing Sissi.

No, she was no longer allowed to enjoy those pleasantries because she was completely erased. Gone, forever.

From the computer screen, Aelita watched her mourning friends. Of course she felt responsible for what had happened. After all, she could've entered the code in faster. If she had been two, three, or even five seconds faster, it would've made a difference. Yumi would've been there with them, and they all would be gathered within the room, joking about how they narrowly escaped Xana's most ambitious assault yet.

But no. Even though time was reset, and the factory completely repaired, there was no bringing back the fallen Lyoko warrior.

Aelita closed her eyes, and suddenly a thought struck her. The materialization program! Of course, they still had the program completed. It wasn't erased when they set time back. If they used it, then Yumi...

Yumi could come back!

"But there is a solution, and Jeremie knows what it is," Aelita spoke out, feeling almost quite giddy about her idea.

All heads lifted to face her. Jeremie looked completely taken aback by her suggestion. "The materialization program? It's operational, but Aelita has to give up her place to Yumi..."

For some reason, Aelita was a bit surprised by Jeremie's lack of response to her idea. She may have not been too knowledgeable in reading tone of voice, as living inside a virtual world had its drawbacks, but she would've expected Jeremie to have one of his 'Aha!' moments. No, to her, he seemed despondent, as though he didn't care for the idea at all.

Her suspicions were interrupted by Ulrich's meek, if hopeful, inquiry. "Can you... bring Yumi back here?"

Jeremie nodded, placing his fingers to his chin in thought. "Yes, but I can only materialize one person. One and only one..."

Aelita cast her gaze off to the side. He still sounded doubtful about her idea. How could he? It was a brilliant idea, in her opinion at least. To the side, she saw Ulrich and Odd nodding their heads in approval.

"Then choose Yumi," said Aelita. "She's part of your world already."

Jeremie's head fell. "But... the program. It'll take months until I can duplicate it again. And I don't even know what keys were used to make it work this time!"

Odd glided into Aelita's view, where he rested his hand on Jeremie's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Einstein. I can drop more candy on your keyboard if you want." He mustered a small grin, not in the usual carefree way he had, which Aelita could not blame him for. This was not a joking matter.

"Don't you understand, Odd? It'll take more months to redo all the work I put into this, and in the meantime Xana will keep doing his dirty tricks. I'm tired of fighting Xana, as I'm sure you all are too. If we bring Aelita, then we can shut down the super computer and-"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" barked Ulrich as he moved into view. Aelita could not help, but agree with his sentiments. There shouldn't be a choice in the matter - Yumi was more valuable than Aelita. She had to come first.

"Are you?" Jeremie's voice rose, and his cheeks began to quickly flush.

Odd moved in between them, hands raised. "Okay, okay, look, we'll settle this all later. Jeremie, just do whatever you gotta do to bring Yumi back and-"

"No."

"What?!" Ulrich moved against Odd, who looked deflated from Jeremie's vehement response. "What do you mean _no_?!"

Jeremie sniffed, providing no response as he quickly turned back to the computer screen. "Aelita, are you ready?"

Aelita's eyes widened. No, he couldn't possibly be thinking of... "Jeremie, this is crazy!" she cried. If A.I. could cry, then Aelita would have no doubt she would've flooded the tower she was taking refuge in right now. "No, you have to bring back Yumi! I can wait! Jeremy? Jeremy?!"

The blonde-haired boy ignored her protests, mumbling, "I'm starting the virtualization process now."

Aelita had to take a step back from the screen, even as Ulrich finally pushed Odd aside to knock Jeremie out of his chair. She was slowly shaking her head. _No..._ Then, she looked up, and saw what she dreaded. The rings, the ones that would scanner her very being, analyzing her structure, duplicating her into a human body...

No! This couldn't be!

Aelita wanted to run. Maybe if she did, then the rings couldn't scan her... But she felt herself frozen to the spot, as if she was just now facing down a roaring Megatank. She couldn't move her eyes away from the rings of data, the beings that would provide her life beyond Lyoko's domains.

Her fists clenched as they began to scan her, engulfing her in their data streams. _No, it should've been Yumi, not me..._

She wanted to scream, to protest to the high Heavens over this betrayal. How could he..?

Finally, the scans completed their objective, and Aelita felt her digital avatar fade, the pixels of her being blowing in front of her as though there was a breeze encouraging it. The world became dark, and suddenly Aelita felt like she was falling, and falling hard.

* * *

"Ulrich, get a hold of yourself!" Odd shouted, seizing a hold on his friend's arm just before he was about to connect it with Jeremie's face once more.

Below them, Jeremie had his face guarded as well as his arms could protect him, though it had not stopped Ulrich from landing several good blows, one of which ended with Jeremie gaining a bloody lip.

Ulrich, though seething with the anger that was bubbling throughout his being, slackened in Odd's grasp, and finally gained his arm back with one good pull. He turned his head to Jeremie, trying to recompose his figure. "I can't believe you, Jeremy..."

Jeremie uncovered his face, reaching down to gingerly touch his bloodied lip. It stung, but not as much as the realization that finally set in. Did he really just do what he thought he did? Did he choose Aelita over Yumi? Yumi, who had been like a stone at his side, providing support and assistance when he needed it because he knew Ulrich or Odd wouldn't have the faintest idea of what he was talking about?

His body began to tremble, and suddenly he felt like the world was spinning, and never stopping. "Ulrich, I... I'm sorry... I don't know-"

"You're sorry?!" Ulrich whirled back on him again, to which Jeremie recoiled instinctively. Now he had known Ulrich to sulk, and had known for him to be irritable and moody, but never as ferociously angry as he was displaying now. Then again, Jeremie reasoned though it did not make him fear his friend any less, it made sense why Ulrich's iron gridlock on his emotions was giving away now.

"That's all you can say? You're sorry?! I oughta..."

Jeremie had a good idea of what Ulrich's idea was, but he was thankful that Odd, once more, threw himself in between the two, though the look on Odd's face indicated that he was doing it more for Ulrich's behalf than for Jeremie's.

"Come on, we better go check on Aelita in the scanners," suggested Odd. His back now completely turned to Jeremie, he herded Ulrich, whose eyes only focused on Jeremie and nothing else, towards the elevator.

Jeremie struggled to stand up. He really felt like he was going to faint. "I'll go too..."

"Oh no you don't, Jeremie. You've done enough for one evening, don't you think?" scolded Odd, who wagged his index finger to emphasize his point.

"I-I know, but maybe I can... I can help?"

"We don't need your help," snapped Ulrich, his face now turned towards the walls of the elevator. "You did enough for one night."

"Ulrich, I know what I did was wrong!" Jeremie called, hoping that his friend would just turn around to face him.

And Ulrich did just that, the faintest of tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Oh yeah? What, you realized that after you materialized Aelita, and forgot all about Yumi?!"

Jeremie's head fell, his shoulders dropping in defeat.

"If I ever see you near me again, Belpois, I... I..." Ulrich shook his head. "Odd, come on, let's go get Aelita."

"You might not want to be here when we get back," warned Odd, though without the vicious bite that Ulrich had. "Aelita might not be too happy about you either."

"Aelita can help us with Lyoko too," said Ulrich to Odd.

Jeremie couldn't resist jumping in. "What? Wait, are you saying... you're kicking me off the team?"

Ulrich shrugged. "Why wouldn't we? You betrayed us."

"I- Odd, you can't be serious, right?"

Looking uncomfortable, Odd averted his gaze.

"We're serious. You lost your place in our group." Ulrich reached over and pressed the button for the elevator.

Jeremie stumbled, his knees giving up underneath his weight. "Wait guys, please. I am sorry! Really! I-I'll try to reverse everything! I'll make a new program, and we'll recover Yumi's data, and she'll-"

"No, Belpois. We don't need you anymore."

_**We don't need you anymore**_. The words stung more than any of Ulrich's punches. Jeremie could only find it in himself to stare helplessly at the elevator doors. This was worse than any Xana attack he had ever experienced.

At least with the Xana attacks, he could return to the past.


	2. Medicine and Poison

**AN: All right, now we're getting into the meat and bones of the story. Sorry that this is more telling than showing, but I promise that it'll be less of that as the story goes on. Just need to iron out the kinks of what everyone has been doing the past few months since the prologue that's all. Again, apologies if anyone seems out of character here.**

**I also want to add that since this fic is just an alternate version of what Season One of the show could've been like, that means I'm going to keep up with the continuity of that season. So, for example, Kankrelats were referred to as Roachsters, there will no William or Hiroki (as both were introduced in Season Two), Odd still has his Future Flash ability on Lyoko, and there may or may not be an appearance by Franz Hopper, or at least a reference to him, later on in the story. I just want to clear that up before I get beaten over the head!  
**

**I also want to give shout-outs to Knux27 and Nope for reviewing and giving me their opinion of the prologue of the story so far! Thank you guys!**

* * *

**Chapter One:** The Difference Between Medicine and Poison

_Well don't call me by my full name,  
And all this is temporary.  
It feels much better to know that you won't feel a thing.  
Well don't talk about it;  
Write it down but don't ask for help.  
I can't be honest with even myself.  
Did you ever wish you were somebody else?_

- Circa Survive, "The Difference Between Medicine and Poison Is the Dose"

* * *

The alarm blared loudly out into the room for quite some time - at least five minutes, before Odd decided that he had to be the one to turn it off. He's gotten quite good at hearing the alarm going off (and snores a little less nowadays) because he knows Ulrich isn't going to be the one to turn it off.

Odd yawned, rubbing his eyes. Across the room, Ulrich is still bundled underneath his blanket, back facing his roommate. Odd knows that Ulrich is awake. It's become part of their routine for the past three months now. Ulrich would hear the alarm go off, but rather choose to ignore it in favor of staying in bed all day; and Odd, not wanting to draw suspicion, would have to be the one to do it, and would have to be the one to urge Ulrich from bed.

So he did so, by kicking Ulrich in the back, provoking the brown-haired boy to roll over and glare at him. "Come on, get up," said Odd, giving him one last tap with his toes.

Ulrich half-heartedly raised his hand over the covers and waved him off. "You go, I'll be there in five minutes."

"You're going to miss breakfast again, aren't you?"

"Save me a croissant. I said I'll be down in five minutes."

"Fine, but if you don't show, then I'm going to go to the factory really quick so Aelita can have her breakfast."

"Fine, sounds good."

"Actually I forgot. Don't you have to pick up Yumi later?"

Ulrich winced, but slowly began to move out of his bed. "Okay, skip getting me breakfast. Get Aelita hers, and I'll go fetch Yumi."

Odd began rubbing the back of his neck. "Or if you want I can go grab her..."

But Ulrich shook his head. "No Odd, just do what you gotta do, okay?"

"Okay then. I'll see you for math class then."

"Yeah."

Odd couldn't have made a faster exit unless the dorms were on fire. Normally one to stop and enjoy the double servings he would convince Rosa to give him, the last three months saw a slight decline in his usual eating habits. He still ate a lot, there was no doubt about that, but not as much as he used to. During the first month, Odd woke up incredulous that he found he had no appetite at all. At first he thought he was getting sick until the weight of everything really sunk in - Yumi and Jeremie were gone, and it was just he, Ulrich, and Aelita left in the group.

Ulrich was left completely out of commission during the first month, so it was up to Odd to keep the team morale going. It was difficult, especially since Aelita shared Ulrich's sentiments, and was just as despondent (but she tried more than Ulrich did, that Odd had to give her credit for). It was almost like he became the unofficial leader in Jeremie's wake, something that he didn't really want. Odd had no problems barking orders to his two friends when he needed to, especially since they had to continue their fight against Xana, but the position as leader felt like wearing a plastic bag. It was foreign and uncomfortable, and he never forgot that crucial moment when he had strategized an attack that nearly ended with Aelita's demise.

If Ulrich dreamt of regret of failing to save Yumi from falling, then Odd dreamt of when he had ordered Aelita to go on her own to deactivate the tower while he had stayed behind to fight off a pesky Krab. Unfortunately, that decision had led her to being surrounded by several Roachsters and, had Ulrich not virtualized himself in time to save her, then they surely would've lost the fight there. Since then he had promised himself never to send Aelita off on her own towards the towers unless he or Ulrich were there to accompany her. Easier said than done.

Quickly swiping a few croissants, two bananas, and a cup of hot chocolate for Aelita, Odd hurried over to the storage room to use that passage that led to the Factory. When he arrived in the dull green illuminated room, Aelita was already up, typing up some programs into the Supercomputer.

She turned in the chair and gave him a smile. "Oh hello Odd. Ulrich isn't with you?"

"He's busy, you know how it is." Odd reached into his backpack and handed her a croissant, a banana, and her drink that he was careful not to drop along the way. "Here, brought you breakfast."

"Thank you, Odd."

"So what're you working on here?"

Aelita swallowed. "I'm trying to replicate the materialization process. It's not ready yet, but I think I might be close enough."

Odd let out a deflating sigh. That was the big project for the past few months - none of them wanted to truly believe that saving Yumi was out of the question. After all, who was to say that they couldn't try to recover her data while she was still registered in the computer, even if it wasn't the next day? No, that was never a problem with Odd. He was always ready to hear news of Aelita advancing forth with the program.

No, the problem was that it made him remember Jeremie. Though he was never outwardly hostile towards Jeremie like Ulrich was, there was a part in Odd that could never forgive Jeremie for doing what he did that day. It did break his heart a little whenever he saw the young genius wandering on the grounds, looking sullen and remorseful. It took a lot in Odd to refrain from engaging Jeremie in conversation, even to ask him how he was doing, but Ulrich was his best friend and roommate, therefore Odd had to choose him over Jeremie.

"Odd, are you okay?" inquired Aelita, giving him a thoughtful look.

"Uh what? Oh, I, uh, yeah, I'm doing A-okay, princess."

She gave him a knowing smirk, which Odd knew meant that she didn't believe him. "It's okay, Odd. I know you were thinking about him."

Odd kicked at imaginary dirt. "Sometimes I just wonder what Einstein is up to, that's all."

"I haven't heard you call him by that nickname for a while."

"That's because Ulrich isn't here to bash my head in. You won't do that, I hope?"

"No, of course not. I've done what you humans call, umm, is it 'forgive and forget'?"

Odd raised his head, surprised by Aelita's words. After all, she had confided in him many times about how she now felt about Jeremie, and none of those words were anything polite. "Really? You've forgiven him?"

Aelita cringed slightly as she considered what to say next. "Maybe I meant it another way. I haven't completely forgiven him, but... I'm not what you call angry at him anymore."

"Really?"

"I mean what he did was wrong, but the best thing we can do is move forward and continue our fight."

"Wow Aelita, can't say that that was what I was expecting to hear."

"I guess I'm full of surprises, aren't I?" Aelita smiled.

Odd returned the smile, and found it safe to try and lighten the air around them with a joke. "Well then you better tell Ulrich about that. It'd be nice to see him crack a joke now and again, even if his jokes really stink."

"Speaking of Ulrich, is he going to get the Yumi clone?"

That quickly erased Odd's short-lived smile. "Yeah. I told him I could go get her, but he insists he do it. He's only hurting himself doing it."

"Well I might have good news concerning the clone," said Aelita. "While I'm working on the materialization process, I've been tweaking the program Jeremie had left behind when he invented the Yumi clone by having the clone act more like the real Yumi. And I think I might've finally finished it."

"Really? So now we don't have to keep a twenty-four hour eye on the Yumi clone in case it does something stupid?"

"Exactly. I'll need the clone to be here when I do the process, but otherwise I think I may have completed everything that Jeremie had left unfinished."

Odd sighed. "You know, for what he did, Jeremie did help us out a lot with the Yumi clone."

Aelita nodded her head in agreement. "Maybe it was his way of saying sorry."

* * *

It had been three months since that day, but Ulrich couldn't stop thinking about it. After all, how could he move on from it? He lost his best friend and was betrayed by another. Every time he fell asleep, Ulrich's mind continued to replay that moment until it had gotten to a point where he had it completely memorized.

The day after had been just as bad. Ulrich was still in the mind set of being unable to accept the fact that what happened had happened, that it wasn't a bad dream that he was going to wake up from any time soon. It was only when Odd pressed him for details on what they were going to do concerning Yumi's parents that Ulrich came back to Earth, and realized that everything did happen - Jeremie did press the buttons that would select Aelita to be materialized rather than use the program to save Yumi.

Though the solution to the issue with Yumi's parents came in the form of Jeremie, Ulrich never wanted to give him credit for it at all. The first day they had to come up with an intricate excuse for Yumi's absence at home (one that ended up requiring Sissi's assistance, and Aelita's skilled programming to be able to install a voice manipulator into the computer so that they could pretend that they were Yumi). After that, Jeremie had come to them with an idea - he had created a prototype Yumi clone. The program for the clone was definitely imperfect, but they had an image of Yumi flesh and blood, right down to the very clothes she wore.

Jeremie gave them the disc for the clone, but Ulrich was absolutely adamant on not allowing him back into the group. Just because Jeremie really helped them out in having to deal with Yumi's parents didn't excuse the fact that this was all his fault in the first place.

So all in all, Ulrich had to only go on one date with Sissi as payment for her covering for Yumi, and they never had to really rely on the voice manipulator except in emergencies. Jeremie never approached them with assistance after that, and for the past three months Aelita had been working on perfecting the clone, using her own knowledge.

Ulrich hated the Yumi clone. Absolutely hated it. If he could, he would've avoided it. The clone was Yumi, but not the real Yumi whom he had come to love. The clone didn't have her fire, her intelligence, her sisterly instinct to watch over the team, or her maturity. It was a blank slate, only designed to fool Yumi's parents until they could find a way to bring Yumi back from the digital sea. And unfortunately, since the clone was as brain dead as Sissi could be (at least in Ulrich's humble opinion), that meant they had to supervise it to make sure it wasn't doing anything out of character. That was why Ulrich began the routine of walking the Yumi clone to school, though he felt ill every time he did it.

He knew he could let Odd walk the Yumi clone to school every now and then, especially when the blonde-haired boy offered to, but Ulrich always refused. It was like some subconscious thing, Ulrich had come to realize. He had failed the real Yumi, so now he had to watch over the clone of Yumi, or something like that. He wasn't paying that much more attention to class than he had before that horrible day, so he could've been mistaken with the whole 'psychological aspect' and was just going insane.

Yeah, going insane, that sounded like it.

When he finally reached the Ishiyama residence, he hit the doorbell twice, and awaited on the steps for the Yumi clone to appear.

It felt like an eternity until the door opened, revealing the clone in all its glory. "Greetings Ulrich Stern," it greeted in a robotic tone, moving past him without even bothering to shut the door.

Ulrich shut the door and raced to catch up with the clone, who was already turning around the corner, not even observing the traffic when it decided to cross the street. Once he finally caught up to the clone, it barely registered his presence, and that was how they continued their walk cycle until they reached the gates of Kadic - walking with unnerving silence.

Once at the gates, Ulrich made the clone face him. "Okay, so what are your classes today?" he asked it, in a tone that was saddled between being dejected and being irritated. He knew it would've been an otherwise silly question to ask (he had Yumi's schedule completely memorized), but he always asked to make sure the clone was aware of its purpose.

As the clone began to rattle off Yumi's schedule, Ulrich felt his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. "Odd?" he asked as he brought the phone to his ear, "what's up?"

"You might want to come over here and fast," said Odd. "I think Aelita's done it."

"It has been proven that sneezing with your eyes open is impossible," the clone spoke, having finished running through real Yumi's complete schedule for the day. "Also the speed of light is rounded to 186,000 miles per second-"

"Ssh!" Ulrich snapped before placing the phone by his ear again. He couldn't have heard Odd say it right - did Aelita actually finish the materialization program? If the Yumi clone hadn't begun its usual chatter of useless information, then he might've caught Odd's bit of information better. "You mean she's finished the materialization program?!" He had to admit that he must've looked like an idea, shouting out loud, but he couldn't contain his growing excitement.

"Uhh, not exactly."

Oh. _Dumb! You should've known better, you dummy!_ _Aelita said it would take months for her to finish the program_. "Then what?" Ulrich snapped, his good mood suddenly gone.

"Did you also know that if the sun was the size of a beach ball, then Jupiter would be equivalent to the size of a golf ball, and Earth would be the size of a sea?" said the clone, but it went unnoticed.

"The program for the clone. Aelita says that she's completed the program so that the clone won't be as dumb anymore. She wants you to bring it over to the factory ASAP."

"Fine, will do." Sighing, Ulrich pocketed the cell phone. Well, modifying the blueprints of the clone's program to make it a more self-sufficient being wasn't a bad idea, and as long as he didn't have to worry about the clone walking into traffic, then he would be okay with it.

"And then at five p.m. I must be home to eat organic materials with my parental units," the Yumi clone rattled on.

Ulrich grabbed the clone's wrist and began to pull it away from the gates of the school. There was no way he was going to sneak to one of the entrances on the grounds when they were running the risk of being stopped. The sooner Aelita modified the stupid clone's intelligence, the better.

"Where are we going?" the clone asked.

"To the Factory."

"Oh. Okay. Did you also know that quasars emit more energy than 100 giant galaxies?"

"... what the heck is a quasar?"


	3. Darkness

**AN: Thank you so much guys for your support so far for the story! It means so much to me!**

**Now, we enter Chapter two. I'll admit that I'm unsure how to feel about this chapter. I really liked it when I first began writing it, but by the end I felt unsure if I truly captured the essence of both characters (well, for XANA I decided I would interpret it as how I saw it, especially since it didn't get true development until the later seasons). But I think this is going to be the formula I'll stick with for the rest of the story - one chapter will center around the gang's exploits, and another will center on Yumi and how she's handling things (I'm considering a third one, just for Jeremie, but I'm unsure yet). Let me know what you guys think of this, if you feel that splitting the story up between several POVs will make reading it a more enjoyable experience.**

**Whoa, that was a long one! All right, now that that's out of the way, let's dive into Chapter two!**

* * *

**Chapter Two: **Darkness

_I fear who I am becoming,  
I feel that I am losing the struggle within  
I can no longer restrain it,  
My strength, it is fading  
I have to give in_

- Within Temptation, "It's The Fear"

* * *

Light.

There was no light.

No familiarity of the world around her.

Wait, she could recognize?

Impossible.

She was deleted. Gone from this world.

Destroyed.

**Wake up. **

So she did. It hurt to wake up. Yumi was completely encompassed in darkness. Darkness... she had had enough of it. She wanted the light- no, she needed the light.

She felt a presence about her being, but she could not quite place what it was. It was unnatural, but familiar. It felt familiar to her. She closed her eyes again to try and remember. Yes! There was Aelita... and Lyoko. Aelita about to be devitalized by the Megatank. Yes, now she remembered. She ran to the Megatank. Pushed it over the edge. Then she, quite vividly, remembered the sensation of falling.

Yes, it was all coming back to her. She sacrificed her life to save Aelita's, the one who was more worth it in that moment. After all, they couldn't deactivate the tower. They couldn't completely save the world without Aelita's help. Yes, now she remembered...

But she had to be dead, right? She fell into the digital sea... There was no possibility of surviving it.

**Open your eyes.**

It was that command again. Yumi slowly opened her eyes, but was again met by darkness. Seriously, she used to love darkness, how isolated yet quiet it was. Now things were becoming too eerie. But... she couldn't wish to go home, could she? She was dead.

**No, not dead. Your codes are intact.**

The cold, not intact voice sent shivers down her spine. But the name was on the tip of her tongue. "Xana?"

**You are quite an unusual warrior. Why sacrifice yourself for the A.I virus? She's taken away all that you love.**

Who was he talking about? Aelita? And why did it hurt to suddenly think so much?

"Are... are they okay?" That's all she cared about. She's always had the mantra of putting others before herself (and it never quite helped that her closest friends were a year younger than her, furthering that need to protect them above protecting herself). If they were doing well for themselves, then she could consider her short life well-spent.

**Yes. They are okay. They are happy.**

"Good. That's what matters."

**But they are happy without you.**

Come again?

"Hm?" she asked, unable to help herself.

**You should've let me destroy the A.I. virus. I could've saved the world.**

"You mean destroy it. You never wanted to save the world."

**Shall I show you what I mean?**

Under normal circumstances she would've been adamant to tell him off. However, this whole situation was anything but normal. "What the heck?" she said aloud.

**My circuits will allow you to peek into what I've observed. **

"Fine."

It was a funny sensation at first - silly enough she had thought Xana had meant his actual circuits, but no, it was just the metamorphosed form of Xana that wrapped himself around her. All the other times that she had confronted Xana, she had felt the aggression from the other side. But not this time. He was surprisingly gentle with her, like cradling a newborn.

She closed her eyes and then there was light! She found herself looking upon Kadic, as though it was like any other normal day. Though she was content with her sacrifice, she still wondered if the others mourned for her.

The next shot brought her into the lunchroom where the group, including Aelita, sat, laughing over some dumb joke Odd had made. The corners of her mouth tugged. _They brought Aelita to the real world? Good. I'm glad for her. She seems to be doing okay for herself._

They transitioned to a scene with Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd standing underneath one of the trees in the courtyard, discussing matters among themselves. Now this made her feel bittersweet, as it reminded her of all the times she and the boys did that while waiting for Jeremie. Bittersweet turned to slight irritation as Ulrich was pulled aside by Emily, and the younger boy wholeheartedly going along with her, saying goodbye to the others.

**I'm sorry**.

Her teeth were slightly clenched. "No, he deserves to be happy. I'm... happy for him."

They faded into another shot, this time of Aelita standing outside of the Ishiyama residence. Her heart fell. Her parents! She completely forgot about them! How would her parents react to knowing that their wonderful daughter was gone from this world?

She found her answer. And she did not like it one bit.

There was a shot of Aelita mingling with her parents, as though they had been longtime friends. There was her mother making Aelita some noodles, and Aelita and her father playing a board game. Even a shot of her parents watching Aelita as she slept on Yumi's futon.

Still, she looked for a sign of hope that they remembered who their real daughter was. "Do they... do they even remember me?"

**My scanners say that this was all taken recently since from your departure of that world.**

"Was there like a mourning or something?" She never cared for big to-do's, but this one seemed like a fairly big to-do.

**No. None that my scanners had observed.**

So, was that it? Did they all move on without her? Did Aelita essentially take over her place in the group, even living with her parents like she had been their daughter from the first day? She tried to gather all the positive thoughts she could get, and her only convincing argument was that she was happy as long as they were happy.

Even then that felt like a lie. She wasn't happy at all. She longed for home, for her friends and family...

**There is more, Lyoko warrior, that I have observed**, said Xana. **They had a chance to save you.**

Now her attention was immediately garnered. "W-What?"

** The program, the materialization program, could've saved your life. But they chose the virus instead.**

"Was there... like a voting or..?" Xana's words chilled her. She knew better than to believe the enemy A.I, but for some reason she could not pull away.

**No, it was unanimous. The virus could live on Earth, and you could remain extinct forever.**

She wiggled her fingers, hoping for feeling there. There was. So she clenched them.

"I have just one question for you, Xana. Why do you keep calling Aelita a virus? She's better than you. She's saving the world."

**No, she's poisoning the system. The code that she enters in the towers to eliminate my so-call threat? She is poisoning the broadcasting system. For now it is still too early to notice, but in due time you shall experience the deterioration of Lyoko. From there shall your world be profoundly affected.**

"No, you are just saying that to mess with my mind. Aelita would never..."

**You believe her because she is organic to your liking. Aelita was designed first as a virus protection program when Lyoko was originally designed. She could not handle it, and it warped her into a more humanoid form. Thus, I was created, to protect Lyoko from being infected by her ways. Because of you, I fail every time.**

"But you attack the real world!"

**I do not mean to, but if it is the only way I can stop you from assisting Aelita's careful destruction of my home, then it must be done.**

"You tried to kill us! On multiple occasions!"

**Again, as I stated previously. You can choose to accept which is the truth, but is there any denial that your friends have completely forgotten about you and are living better lives?**

"I don't..." She cleared her throat and said, much too loudly for her liking, "They're happy. That's all that matters."

**Software and computers are much easier to understand than you humans.** This time Xana's voice was softer, fading away slowly. Much to her own disgust, Yumi wanted to cry in protest - _please don't leave me!_

How sick was that? That she was willing to turn for help to the A.I, a program that, for the past year, had been trying to kill them and stop their efforts to save their world in more ways than one. But when Xana came to her, he brought light. Yumi didn't want to fall back into the darkness.

_Calm down Yumi, you can do this. You're not even here anymore. You're... nonexistent_. At once, the vivid images of the world where her friends had left her behind came back to her. It had to be a trick by Xana, she knew it had to be so. He was doing something to manipulate the images just to break her. Well, the joke was on him because Yumi prized herself in being a stubborn person, too hard to break.

Nonetheless, it did little to soothe her fears. It was that what-if in the back of her mind that continually haunted her - what if they did move on without her? What if they didn't miss her like how they missed her? What if... what if she meant less to them than how much they meant to her? The darkness was feeding on her doubts, making her pain grow stronger. She missed her life - she missed her friends, her family, even doing schoolwork at 2 in the morning after a late night shift of stopping Xana's attack.

She couldn't move too much, but if she were allowed to she would curl into fetal position, try to block out the world. "I just want to go home..." she sniffled.

** A home where you are unwanted? Illogical.** Xana's bitter monotone voice returned to her, but Yumi did not mind it. She just wanted the darkness to fade.

"Not illogical," she bit out, wanting to say something harsher, and even swearing at herself for barely daring to challenging the demented A.I.

**Then what? What do you pitiful humans desire?**

"A life. Free will. Family. Friends."

**Again, illogical. A program does not need any of those.**

"I am not a program. I am a human being."

**Correction. You **_**were**_** a human being. As stated your friends abandoned you for their own desires. You barely live as a program to the network. You do not feel. You do not love.**

Yumi closed her eyes. _No, I am a human. I do love..._ She repeated the phrase over her head what must've felt like a hundred times. _I do love, I do love..._ Yet every time she did so, it felt fake.

Was that it? She was just a program now, like Aelita?

_No_, she had to remind herself. Aelita still had life through her programming, whereas Yumi... She could not laugh. She could not smile. And all she had to look forward to, instead of a bespectacled blonde-haired boy who would open the program window to talk to, was just never-ending darkness. Aelita had Jeremie, Yumi had darkness.

"Xana?" Her voice barely sounded anything like herself. "I don't want to be left behind anymore. I can't stand the darkness."

**There is a solution for you.**

"Can I come out of the dark?"

A moment's hesitation, but Yumi did not register it. She was becoming claustrophobic, she needed out. "Please, take me out of here."

There was no confirmation from Xana of what he was planning to do, but Yumi saw the light as soon as her words fell from her lips. She felt like she was being lifted from the ground, and it felt... absolutely wonderful. She was in the light, and there was no more darkness.

She was free.


	4. Regret

**AN: Sorry guys, this is gonna be another short one! This time we get Jeremie's perspective on things! I promise you that the next chapter will be more action-packed! **

**Again, I want to thank everyone who has shown interest in this story! It means a lot to me!**

**I don't feel like I've done a good job of writing Jeremie in his current state of mind, but maybe I'm just being too overly critical. Let me know what you think! **

**Anyways, enough of this! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Three:** Regret

_Crawl to the mirror _

_And see all that you've become_

_A grim reflection _

_Of all the things that you have done_

_You try to weep but no tears have or will ever come_

_So this is who you are?_

- Aesthetic Perfection, "The Ones"

* * *

Before **The Really Bad Day** happened, he was always stuck to his computer like glue, typing away at whatever significant task had enthralled him that day.

After **The Really Bad Day**, he was still stuck to his computer.

Some things just don't change as much, do they?

But for Jeremie everything had changed, and for the past three months he continued to suffer through the extent of what he had done. It was his fingers that had processed the program, it had been his mind that called that decision, but it had been all of him that paid the price for it.

Yumi was gone, but Aelita was alive.

In the end he chose to dishonor the sacrifice of his friend - who was of the real world, who had a family and friends who loved her - and chose instead to save someone whose whole life consisted of living within the confines of a virtual reality. He paid for that by not only losing the love of said girl, the respect of all his friends, but also by ignoring that the need to bring back Yumi was stronger than that of Aelita.

In the end it wasn't worth it.

Jeremie continued to have nightmares about **The Really Bad Day**, as he now liked to refer to it. It was always the same thing replaying over and over again - Yumi de-virtualized forever, his rash decision to prioritize Aelita's cause over Yumi's, and the utter twist of betrayal he had committed to his friends, none of whom wanted to be seen by him ever again. Jeremie couldn't blame them; even he didn't want to be around himself.

In all reality that should've been the end of it - having been effectively kicked out of the group, Jeremie should've gone down his own path. He could've looked more into his studies, maybe even consider the proposal his father made about transferring to a more prestigious school (if he still had friends, it would've been reason to continue to stay at Kadic, but now...). Instead, he continued to wither over his work. It was his road to redemption, he had put it.

It was his hand that created the prototype Yumi clone. Jeremie had known better than to expect gratitude from the others when he passed on the disk to Ulrich and Odd, and he certainly was wise enough to know that this wouldn't earn him entry back into the group. Under all pretense, Jeremie wasn't so sure in himself if he was ever going to be a part of the group again. It wasn't because he didn't want to re-divulge into Lyoko's affairs because he certainly did, but because of his crime. He saved them all from severe questioning by creating the clone, but it was never going to bring Yumi back.

Jeremie knew that Aelita had to be working on re-processing the materialization program and that it would take months before it could be operational, if at all. So that was what he occupied himself with in the meantime - he was going to recreate, bit by bit, the program even if it meant killing himself over it. And with him returning to a friendless status, that meant all the more free time to devote himself to his work.

That was not to say he did not miss the company of his friends - he missed Odd's obnoxious jokes that saddled between being funny but not really, and he missed Ulrich's rational, if otherwise juvenile behavior that almost rivaled Odd's level of immaturity, and he missed Aelita's logical understanding of him that allowed them to become so close... It pained Jeremie to re-imagine Aelita's face when he saw her after she became human.

* * *

**Three Months Ago...**

_The elevator rode up from the third floor, and he knew to be expecting a whirlwind of justified anger. Especially from Ulrich since he had not quite left the vicinity of the room. He couldn't find it in him to leave, not until he saw Aelita._

_ The doors opened slowly and there she stood, in between Ulrich and Odd, both who stared back at Jeremie with stony looks. After checking Ulrich over to see that the boy did not look like he was going to rush at him and twist his head off, Jeremie stood and tried to plead himself to Aelita, whose expression could only be summed up as indignant._

_ "Aelita, I'm so sorry," he said. Jeremie knew it was useless - no amount of sorry was ever going to reverse what he had done - and he knew Aelita was not going to accept his apology. He accepted that. But he just needed to tell her that he truly, genuinely, and positively meant sorry. "I shouldn't have... It should've been Yumi. We could've- no, I could've... saved her, but I-"_

_ Aelita raised her hand at him, silently pleading for him to stop. He did so promptly. "Jeremie, I..." She struggled to find her voice. Even when she was angry with him, her voice barely rose above the same volume of coolness she had when she spoke to him through the interface. "I don't want to hear it. It should've been Yumi here."_

_ Jeremie nodded his head. His eyes began to feel wet. "You're absolutely right, it should've been Yumi."_

_ "I want you to leave, Jeremie. I... I can't be here with you."_

* * *

_ Though he had been expecting it, no less deserving it, it still deflated all the remaining strength Jeremie had within him. The others exited the elevator, there was no further word needed to be said. Jeremie took one last glance at all of his former friends, permanently burning their gazes of hatred and disappointment into his mind, and, with his head low, departed for the elevator._

And now here he was, three months later, busying himself over the materialization program. He had not deactivated the sensors from his computer or laptop, so when a tower was activated he would know. But that insistent beeping of danger took a much bitter meaning to Jeremie now - instead of it being a signal of Xana's next attack, it was a cold reminder that he was no longer a part of that. All because he was selfish and stupid in that moment of decision-making.

Jeremie sighed, holding his head between his hands. "Okay, let's try this again," he mumbled, pressing the Enter key to activate the process of running the materialization program to see whether it was active to run or not. He stewed in breath-holding silence as the computer processed the program with Yumi's Lyoko avatar on the screen when once it had been Aelita's. It finished the procedure with precisely the same note of beeps that indicated to Jeremie that the program was not ready.

He slammed his hand into his desk, wincing from how hard he had done so. "I'm never going to get this right!" he cried out. He closed out of the window and fell back against his chair to contemplate what was wrong. Oh if only he had been there the day Odd accidentally triggered the precise keys that activated the program.

If only he hadn't been stupid in the first place... None of this would've happened.

Taking a moment to recuperate, Jeremie thought about the coordinates he had just entered into the program and considered whether they needed minor adjusting or just needed to be deleted overall. "Okay Belpois, get it under control," he sighed, cracking his knuckles. "I can do this. I'm Einstein." He paused, realizing what he had just said.

He hadn't been called Einstein in three months. Even if the term was no longer an endearment as his nickname, it still had a history with him. A history that was buried on **The Really Bad Day**.

Jeremie shook his head. _No, can't lose focus!_ He went back to the initial program and reconfigured several of the coordinates, taking some equations out and replacing them with newer ones. _This has to be it_, he thought hopefully. _If I just delete this and switch this equation with that one... maybe this can break through_.

A sudden pop-up window blocked his process. Jeremie grumbled and had instinctively moved to exit from it when he saw exactly what it was. It wasn't some window telling him that there had been another problem with the program - it was just the opposite of that in fact.

It was an instant message, from Lyoko.

**Jeremie? Jeremie Belpois?**

He narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the message. This had to be some prank, and immediately he thought of Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich doing this on purpose to him. But they would have no reason to, he reasoned. _They don't want to have anything to do with me_.

The next idea he had was that it was someone who was pulling a prank on him from the school. Again, that sounded absurd. His Kadic peers never bothered him much, not even with the occasion bullying of the past, and besides the top of the message, indicating its sender, said Lyoko. No one at the school knew what Lyoko was or what it even meant.

So that led him to his last idea - Xana. This was a trick, and he had to admit that it was clever of Xana. But... why would he choose this approach? Very quickly, without taking his eyes off of the message, Jeremie began a scan to localize an activated tower. His fingers twitched as his computer went through all the towers registered on Lyoko and finally came to the conclusion that all was peaceful. Not an activated tower in sight.

_I don't understand..._

_BING!_

Another message appeared, and Jeremie's heart nearly gave out when he read it.

**Jeremie? It's Yumi. Yumi Ishiyama.**

He began to frantically type back to her. **Yumi? But how is this possible? You fell into the digital sea.**

The seconds felt like years for Jeremie as he awaited a response back from her. He wasn't even so sure if he was imagining this or not. It was too surreal. After all, how did this make any sense - Yumi, who had been deleted, messaging him?

_BING!_

**Xana. He brought me back, Jeremie. **

**Xana? But that's not possible.**

**That's what I thought, Jeremie. But he did it. That's how I'm able to get in touch with you. You have to get me out of here, Jeremie. I want to come home.**

Jeremie quickly removed his glasses to rub at his eyes, which began to start feeling wet. "Oh goodness, Yumi..." he mumbled loudly, his voice quivering. Once he regained control over himself again, he furiously typed her back: **Yumi, I'm doing all I can to bring you back. I'm so sorry for what I did.**

_BING!_

**It's okay, I forgive you. Just get me home, okay?**

He nodded. _I promise, Yumi, I'll bring you back no matter what I have to do._


	5. The Hand Bitten

**AN: I know I just updated the story, but I had this chapter finished just after finishing up Jeremie's chapter, and I couldn't wait to upload it. Now we're finally getting the ball rolling with the plot, and it's only getting better from here! I hope you guys like this one!**

* * *

**Chapter Four: **The Hand Bitten

_Things can be so unfair  
You were taken away  
Before your time  
Now we're all sitting here,  
Nothing left for us to say  
Don't want to leave you behind_

- Earlyrise, "Memories"

* * *

Ulrich was quick to leave the Yumi clone's side as soon as the elevator door opened, revealing Aelita and Odd who were gathered at the computer's interface.

"Well?" he asked, shoving both his hands into his pockets as he strutted towards them. "Odd said that it's possible to fix the clone."

Aelita faced him and nodded her head. "Yes that's right. Now we can hope that the clone is less dependent."

"We'll still need to hang around it though," said Odd. "Y'know, so no one gets suspicious on what Yumi's doing by her lonesome."

Ulrich did not appreciate his friend's joke, and made it clear by glaring at him.

Odd held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry, thought you could use a laugh, that's all!"

"Guys, please..." sighed Aelita, not wanting a fight to break out if that was the intent.

Turning away from his roommate to make a quick glance at the stationary clone, Ulrich asked, "So what do we have to do so that it gets the upgrade?"

"Okay, well first you'll have to put her into one of the scanners. That way I can download the information. I'll have to activate a tower to do so though."

"Whoa Princess, you think you can do that?" asked Odd.

"I...I think so. I hope I can."

"Just think about it - if you can do that, then we won't even need to go to Lyoko anymore. Just override Xana's towers and bam! Mission accomplished!"

Aelita could not resist stifling a chuckle at Odd's optimism. "I wish it was that simple, Odd. No, we'll still need to go to Lyoko. I can't override Xana's programs permanently. Sooner than later he would just repossess the tower."

"Aw bummer. I guess that was just wishful thinking, huh?"

"_Anyways_," said Ulrich impatiently, "so we take the clone down to the scanner room..."

"And then you can leave the rest to me," said Aelita. "It shouldn't take too long to update the software of the clone."

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Ulrich turned to return to the elevator when he felt a hand on his shoulder stop him. "Hey, why don't you let me take the Yumi clone downstairs?" asked Odd, a sympathetic look on his face.

Ulrich brushed his hand off. "Thanks Odd, but I told you that I'll be fine."

"You always say that, but you're never fine." Then, before Ulrich could reply, Odd slipped around him and leapt into the elevator, hitting the Down button before his sullen roommate had a chance to react. Ulrich could literally hear the smile in Odd's voice as he called out, "It's for your own good!"

"Relax Ulrich," said Aelita, who took her eyes away from the computer screen momentarily. "She's in good hands."

"You call Odd's hands good?" Ulrich shrugged. "Okay, whatever."

"All right Princess, we're ready!" Odd called from the scanner room.

"Okay, I'm starting the procedure now."

Ulrich returned to Aelita's side, watching with curious eyes as the program downloaded itself into the clone. He didn't understand the tech mumbo-jumbo of the Supercomputer, but it looked like the program itself was running successfully.

Aelita seemed to confirm so as she typed it several codes. "Okay, so far the Yumi clone is processing the updates well..."

"Was there any doubt?"

"Well, a little."

"Don't worry Princess, you're doing a great-" He shouldn't have tempted their good luck. No sooner than those words left his mouth that several windows popped up - one was a red exclamation point, and another contained the scan of the towers on Lyoko.

Aelita frantically typed in several keys. "Oh no, not now! I have to stop the update! I think Xana planted a bug in the program."

Ulrich's shoulders sank. "That's just great. And an activated tower to boot. Will the other scanners be okay, Aelita?"

She nodded her head. "They should be. I'll tell Odd. Odd, do you hear me?"

"Roger, Princess! What's going on? Why did the scanner stop scanning?"

"I'm afraid Xana has woken up. There's an activated tower in the forest region."

"Well what about the Yumi clone?"

"One of us should stay behind," said Ulrich.

"You stay, Ulrich. You'll need to operate the Supercomputer while I'm gone, and besides you've gotten better at it." Aelita gave him a friendly wink.

Her words did not go unnoticed by Odd, however. "Hey, I've been improving too!"

Aelita passed the headset to Ulrich, who took her seat at the computer. "We'll send the clone back up to you."

"Don't be gone too long," he said, forcing a small smile.

"If Xana doesn't give us any trouble," she replied back, disappearing behind the elevator's moving doors.

Once she arrived in the scanner room, they led the Yumi clone, who otherwise appeared unfazed by the activity that occurred with the downloading process, to the elevator and sent her back up Ulrich's way. Then Aelita and Odd took to their respective scanners, awaiting the virtualization process.

"Okay guys, ready?" Ulrich's voice said clearly over the intercom.

"We're ready, Ulrich," said Aelita.

"Do your thing buddy! It's time to kick some Xana butt!" cheered Odd.

"Okay. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Odd. Scanner Aelita. Scanner Odd. Virtualization."

The sensation of being transferred from one world to the next was not a pleasant one. It was a pulling force, nearly jerking you off your feet. When Aelita was re-transferred to Lyoko after being materialized, the sensation of the transfer left her feeling a bit ill, before and after. She felt quite alone when she found out that neither Odd nor Ulrich shared her sentiments when they recalled their first transfer.

Also, having to suddenly land on your feet once the configuration of the avatar was completed was another less than welcomed gesture, but one that Aelita quickly got used to after a few visits.

Opposite of her, her purple-clad protector was gazing about the forest, almost just daring Xana to bring one of his monsters to the party. "Well Princess?" he asked, flashing her a smirk. "Shall we go?"

"You guys made it there okay?" came Ulrich's distorted voice.

"Yes Ulrich, we made it here okay," said Aelita. "You do fine when you transfer us here. You should relax a little."

"Yeah, and if you mess up we will let you know loud and clear!" added Odd.

"Thanks Odd. Okay it says the tower is due north-east of your position. No monsters in sight."

Though it wasn't unusual to not be greeted by Xana's welcoming party of whatever monster he wanted to send for that day, something about the lack of presence from Xana unnerved Aelita.

Odd seemed to pick up on her suspicions and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, don't tell me you want us to show up in the middle of Xana's welcoming committee?"

Aelita smiled. "No I guess you're right. It's a little silly to be thinking about it."

"It's more than silly. It's a little insane." Odd winked. "But hey, I'm not here to judge. Ready to go?"

She nodded her head and the pair raced off in the direction Ulrich had directed them. Odd led the pair, his head occasionally moving about to scan the area. Though Aelita's materialization had been successful and she could not be erased forever when de-virtualized, she still lacked any significant modifications of power besides Creativity as her ability. Therefore, she still needed the extra protection as before or otherwise a tower would never be deactivated. More than once Aelita had considered looking into doing something about that, by giving Odd and Ulrich the ability to deactivate the towers on their own without needing her, but the process, especially with the concerns over Yumi being everyone's priority, had been slow, if non-existent.

Aelita's concerns in that moment, however, were not about Yumi or modifying the deactivation codes exclusive to her avatar only, however. She quickly realized why she was so unnerved - it was too silent in the forest sector. Xana was sending none of his soldiers to stop them from ceasing his assault. No Roachsters, no Bloks, not even a Megatank to make things more dangerous. It was just her and Odd in an empty area.

Odd came to realize Aelita's concerns and began to have his own doubts as well once they reached the red tower. "Hang on Aelita, something isn't right," he said, narrowing his eyes. "This was too easy. Hey Ulrich, any monsters running about?"

"Uhh, no actually. It's pretty dead in the forest."

"So we've noticed."

"This could be a trap by Xana," said Aelita. "None of this seems right. It's like he wants us to stop him."

Odd gave her a look of confusion. "But why? Isn't the whole point of this being us trying to deactivate the tower and him stopping us? What gives this time?"

Aelita shrugged. "I don't know, Odd. None of this is normal for Xana."

There was a bit of static before Ulrich's voice returned. "Uh guys? I think the tower just deactivated itself?"

"What!" both exclaimed as they turned to look at the tower. Indeed, the red aura that was Xana's symbol of attack faded back to its neutral blue state.

"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Odd, who slowly and cautiously began to approach the tower. "This doesn't make sense! Why'd Xana throw in the towel?"

"Wait Odd!" cried Aelita, refusing to move further from her spot. "We shouldn't get closer to it!"

"Why not? We're not in danger anymore, right? Xana's called off his attack."

"I know but... this seems like a trap."

"How perceptive of you."

Neither could believe who it was who stood in front of them in that moment. If you were to have told them earlier in the day that something like this would've happened, they would've laughed and told you that you were crazy. Aelita even felt weak in the knees, and she was sure that Odd was having the same reaction as her.

Because there was no way Aelita was believing that the Yumi that was standing in front of them at that present moment was not a figment of her imagination. Or, if anything, something created by Xana to represent a friend no longer present in their lives. If that was the case, Aelita would have to give it to Xana that he was increasingly becoming more proficient about screwing around with their minds.

Yet Yumi looked so real; she was even donning her Geisha outfit. Aelita felt like she could just reach out and touch her...

"No way..." whispered Odd, shaking his head.

"What's going on?!" Ulrich sounded increasingly alarmed, and Aelita could not blame him. "There's a monster right in front of you! Why aren't you attacking?"

"Ulrich, this is no monster," said Aelita, unable to decide whether she should approach Yumi or not.

"What are you talking about, Aelita? It says so on the screen!"

"Ulrich, it's Yumi," Odd said loudly and clearly for the brown-haired boy to understand. It must've worked because there was immediate silence on Ulrich's end.

Yumi tilted her head up to Lyoko's skies and said, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ulrich's voice returned to them, but he sounded he was on the verge of tears. "Y-Yumi? Is that you?"

"The one and only." Yumi returned her attention to Odd and Aelita.

Regaining himself, Odd was the first to approach Yumi, sprinting into a run towards her with his hands held out. Clearly he was going for a hug. "Wow Yumi, it's really-" He never completed his run.

It had been so quick that Aelita thought she blinked without knowing. In a split second of him coming within close range of Yumi, Odd was de-virtualized, his avatar disappearing instantly. And Aelita saw, though she could not believe it, Yumi's tessen fan soaring through the air before returning to its master's hand.

Had she really saw what she thought she saw?

"What's going on?!" Ulrich shouted. "Odd just got de-virtualized! You guys better get out of there!"

Ulrich's words finally brought movement to Aelita's legs as she took a step forward towards Yumi. "Yumi, I don't... did you do that?"

Yumi slowly turned in Aelita's direction. Aelita likened Yumi's movements to Odd on one of his bad days where he was lethargic and uninterested. But that was what Odd was like on a bad day. This was _Yumi_, their Yumi, and it felt totally uncharacteristic of her.

"Yumi?" Aelita pressed.

Yumi held out her hand, holding her fan tightly. She smiled. "It's good to see you, Aelita." She flicked her wrist in Aelita's direction, and the fan soared with startling speed. It clipped Aelita's shoulder before ascending into the air.

Aelita's eyes widened. "What?" she asked softly, feeling the impact of Yumi's fan in her backside and her body dissolving with the loss of all her life points. The last sight she saw was of Yumi watching her with a solemn look on her face.


	6. Vein of Grief

**AN: All right guys, here's chapter five of our little tale! Ulrich gets the chance to see Yumi again, but the encounter is a little unlike what he's imagined for it to be. Let's see how this ends up playing out for our little friend.**

**Once again guys, just wanted to say thank you for all the support you've shown for the story so far! It means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Five: **Vein of Grief

_And as you showed me your scars_  
_I only held you closer_  
_But as the light in you went dark I saw you turn over_  
_I wanted always to be there for you and close to you_  
_But I'm losing this_  
_And I'm losing you_

**- **Apocalyptica (Feat. Lacey Straum), "Broken Pieces"

* * *

If being transferred onto Lyoko was a daunting experience, then being transferred back to Earth was even worse. Aelita felt weak in the knees and only managed to prevent herself from falling by maintaining a good hold on the walls of the scanner. As soon as the doors opened, though, she lost her grip and fell hard onto her knees completely drained, both physically and mentally. She couldn't believe what it was she had just seen. It was too unreal.

Yumi. Yumi was back.

Yumi de-virtualized both her and Odd. But why? She didn't have too long to muse on that thought.

"Virtualize me."

Aelita weakly raised her head, seeing Ulrich standing over her with a determined look on his face. Behind him stood Odd, who likewise looked just as drained. "What?" Aelita said softly, unable to muster it within her to speak any louder.

Ulrich's arms shook as they dangled at his sides. "Virtualize me onto Lyoko, Aelita. If Yumi's back-"

"I think it's a trick by Xana," said Odd. "I mean she looked like Yumi, but Yumi... she wouldn't have de-virtualized us like that."

Aelita struggled to rise onto her feet, breathing heavily. "He's right, Ulrich. We better wait and try to look into this. There is no way she's come back. It's impossible to survive the digital sea."

As soon as she left the scanner, Ulrich charged past her and stood firm inside the pillar. "I don't care. Just virtualize me onto Lyoko."

Odd moved over to Aelita, throwing her arm over his shoulder. "I don't think this is a good idea, good buddy," he said warningly. But when he saw that Ulrich's intents could not be dissolved, he gave a resigned sigh and began to help Aelita to the elevators. "Fine, have it your way then. Give us a couple of minutes."

As soon as the doors closed, Odd turned his gaze to Aelita as she regained her breath. "You okay, Princess?"

She nodded. "Just... just a bit spooked that's all. Odd, do you think that that was the real Yumi?"

He eased her arm off his shoulder and crossed his own. "I don't know, Aelita. I mean why would the real Yumi attack us? She knows who we are."

"Xana maybe?"

"But you said that there's no way she could've been brought back."

Aelita gave a half-hearted shrug. "It's an idea."

Once they reached the second floor and Odd helped Aelita back into the chair, she began to download the virtualization process. "Okay Ulrich, I can't send you directly to that location, but I'll try to send you as close as I can."

"That's okay, Aelita. I can get there no problem."

"Ulrich... are you sure? Yumi isn't herself."

"I'm sure. Do it."

"Okay. Transfer Ulrich. Scanner Ulrich. Virtualization."

* * *

As soon as his shoes hit the ground, Ulrich raced off. He wasn't going to hesitate waiting for Xana's goons to catch him off-guard when there was so much at stake for right now. Yumi was alive. That's all that mattered to him.

"Are you okay, Ulrich?" asked Aelita. "Did you make it to your position okay?"

"Yeah Aelita, I'm okay. How much farther do I have to go?"

"Um... you need to go another twenty feet. This is strange. According to the map, Yumi hasn't moved from her position."

"She's probably expecting you, Ulrich." Though his voice was distorted by being in the background, Ulrich could still hear Odd loud and clear.

_Good. I'm on my way, Yumi. Don't you move_. "Any monsters?"

"None. Xana has something planned. I just wish I knew what it was. Still, be careful Ulrich."

"I will." He skidded to a sudden halt when he caught sight of the blue tower in the distance. If he suddenly appeared rushing in, it might trigger a response in Yumi that he did not want to happen. Instead Ulrich would approach with caution and without threat to let her know that he only wanted to understand what happened.

He could see her from a distance, and it made his heart clutch in agony. He thought back to her final moments, where he failed to save her and watched her fail. That scene often came back to him in the nightmares. No, this time things were going to be different. Ulrich wasn't going to let Yumi walk away. She was coming home, no matter what he had to do.

One step at a time he carefully advanced towards her. She finally gazed at him with sunken eyes that, even on Lyoko, seemed quite unlike her. It made Ulrich's body straighten in anticipation, but she did nothing yet. Still, one of his eyes was on the tessen fan that hung at her side.

"Yumi? It's me, Ulrich. Don't you remember me?"

The indent of a small smile appeared on her face. "Of course I remember you. How could I forget?"

Ulrich took in what she said. She sounded like the old Yumi, and definitely looked like her, but he didn't let that overexcite him. They might've thought differently by how he acted in the scanner room, but Ulrich did take in what Odd and Aelita were saying - Yumi de-virtualized them, even though she knew exactly who they were. The Supercomputer showed her as a threat, a monster, instead of having an icon to indicate she was their ally. He had been no expert on computers, especially the Supercomputer, but he had figured that was a drawback of being deleted in the digital sea.

After all, up until now it meant permanent deletion.

Yet Yumi, _his_ Yumi, was staring back at him.

It was hard for him to resist the part of him that wanted to race to Yumi, to grip her in a tight hug and never let her go.

She flicked her wrist, the one unarmed, and cast him a casual look. "How long has it been, Ulrich?"

He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

Sighing exasperatedly she clarified, "Since I fell."

"Oh." How stupid! He should've known that. "Uh, about three months."

"Three months... Is Aelita enjoying things in the real world?"

Ulrich didn't understand where all of this was coming from, but he decided to appease her anyways. "Well things have been different..."

"Is she having fun living with my parents?"

"Huh?" That stopped him dead cold. "What are you talking about?"

Now Yumi was coming to live, strutting over to him, her face unreadable. "How's Emily doing? I know you guys are close. I'm happy for you, Ulrich. Really."

"What, Emily? What's she got to do with this?"

Yumi paused briefly, letting out a low chuckle. "I know a lot of things changed since I disappeared, but you don't need to lie to me, Ulrich."

Now he was becoming angry. Ulrich wasn't understanding where all this information was coming from. Since when have he and Emily..? And where did Aelita living with her parents come from? Something was not right.

His hand slowly inched to the sword tucked securely at his side. "Yumi, what's going on with you?"

"I think I should be asking you that question, right?"

"You're not making any sense!"

A small smile appeared on her face. To Ulrich it seemed sad. "Sorry."

His eyes snapped to her wrist as she flicked her tessen fan, which flew alarmingly fast at him. Unsheathing his samurai blade, he was able to knock it back at Yumi who caught it without much effort. Ulrich was pretty sure his jaw had dropped when she attacked him.

The pair stared at one another for a brief sense of time, and then Yumi flicked her wrist again. Unprepared this time, Ulrich winced as he felt the fan slice his shoulder and then watch as it ascended into the air. What he was not prepared for was a sharp kick to the stomach, courtesy of Yumi who was now positioned in a pose almost akin to when they practiced Pencak Silat.

The fan spun towards him, but being more on guard led to Ulrich sidestepping the tessen fan, which returned to Yumi's grasp. "That was a good dodge," she complimented him.

Ulrich tightened his grip on his sword. This was going all wrong. He had come on Lyoko to save Yumi, not fight her. And he was sure he was down half his life points already while Yumi had all hers. "Yumi, I don't want to fight you," he murmured softly.

"Ulrich!" Aelita cried through the microphone. "You only have fifty life points left!"

"I know, Aelita!" Ulrich's gaze never left Yumi's. "Yumi, can't we talk this out?"

She solemnly shook her head. "There's nothing more to talk about."

"Is it Xana? Did he do something to do? Is that why you're attacking us?"

Yumi's head briefly dropped. "I'm sorry, Ulrich."

"Ulrich, watch it! Two Krabs are coming for you!"

He could hear them approaching him from behind, and knew he was at a loss. If he turned his back on Yumi, he had no doubt that she would de-virtualize him with her fan. On the other hand if he ignored the Krabs, then they would be the ones to finish him off. He was in a lose-lose situation. _But if I can Triplicate..._ he considered. Maybe then he would have a fighting chance. _It's worth a shot._

"Triplicate!" he cried out, splitting his avatar into two, and choosing to fight off the Krabs before dealing with Yumi. He and his clones raced towards the Krabs, who began to fire their lasers. Ulrich leapt into the air, holding his sword facing down for an aerial strike. The tip of the sword struck one Krab in the dead center of Xana's symbol. "Impact!"

The Krab's form shuddered. Ulrich quickly dismounted just as the Krab exploded. _Okay, one down... Now one more Krab to g-ACK!_ He had felt the pain of a fan slicing into his midsection, and could feel his body beginning to disintegrate even before Ulrich registered what exactly had happened. He turned his head to Yumi who stared back at him with cold eyes. The Krab moved around so that it stood over Yumi's form, also looking down upon him.

_Xana..._ That was Ulrich's last coherent thought as his avatar completely vanished into nothing.

When his scanner opened, depositing him onto the floor, he just wanted to remain there. After all there was no rush to hurry to Aelita and Odd, was there? Not to mention the return to Earth felt more painful than it had all the previous times. Was it because it was Yumi who de-virtualized him and not one of Xana's usual henchmen? Ulrich wondered. The impact of her tessen fan was greater than taking a laser beam from any of the monsters. Maybe not greater than a blast from a Megatank, but it was definitely up there.

"Ulrich?" came Aelita's voice. "Are you okay?"

Grunting, Ulrich forced himself off of the floor to respond, "I'm here, Aelita. I'm coming up." He marched over to the elevator and punched in the UP button. _It has to be Xana_, he thought. _Yumi wouldn't just attack us like that. Xana has to be controlling her or something like that._

When the doors opened again, Ulrich found himself greeted by Aelita and Odd who stood anxiously at the door. They felt just as tense and as betrayed as he did, that much he could tell. He, however, felt more deflated when he spotted the Yumi clone in the far corner of the room, lounging against the wall.

"Well, that went well," said Odd as the three moved back over to the computer.

"Ulrich, I heard what you and Yumi were talking about on Lyoko," said Aelita, eyes carefully examining the brown-haired boy. "I don't understand. What did she mean by my taking her place and taking her parents?"

Ulrich offered a weak shrug. "I have no clue, Aelita. And she said I was dating Emily. I thought... it could be Xana's doing."

"Xana?" asked Odd. "Then boy, oh boy, he's gotten a lot smarter. Aelita, is Xana even capable of doing something like that?"

Aelita rested her hand against her chin, deep in thought. "I'm not so sure, Odd. I've never heard of a program like Xana manipulating a human... maybe codes, sure. He might've found access to Yumi's codes when she was de-virtualized, but it's strange to me. Unless he is evolving, that is."

"So then we have to do something!" exclaimed Ulrich. "We can't just let Xana do whatever he wants with Yumi."

"Not to mention if we go to Lyoko now, we'll know that Yumi will be there waiting for us," Odd pointed out. "And her attacks took at least half of our health out in one hit."

"Xana could've amplified her power. "If we are definite this is him that is behind all this," said Aelita.

"He is behind all this!" cried Ulrich, anger flowing into his body. He was frustrated by her lack of not seeing the picture - it had to be Xana. Why would Yumi attack her friends? And did Aelita not admit that Xana could have access to Yumi's codes, which were left behind, thus leaving the older girl open to being a puppet for the A.I program? "Yumi wouldn't attack us on her own free will."

Odd stepped into Ulrich's line of sight, looking doubtful. "Uhhh I don't know about you, Ulrich, but she seemed pretty in control of herself, if you ask me."

"Whatever the case," said Aelita, "I'll work on finding out everything. Xana may be clever, but even he can make mistakes. You two better head back to class before you get in trouble."

Ulrich shook his head. He didn't want to go back to class! He wanted to stay right here!

"No Ulrich, I can work on this by myself. Go and get the Yumi clone back to the school as well. We don't want to look suspicious."

"Uh, speaking of the Yumi clone, are we gonna try and re-download that program of yours?" asked Odd.

She shook her head, her face creased in frustration. "It'll have to wait another time. Go back to class you two. I'll contact you if I find anything."

"We'll skip lunch and come visit you, okay?"

She nodded, then pointed to the elevator. "Go."

Every part of him was saying no, that he needed to stay behind to see what Yumi was doing on Lyoko. But in the end Ulrich knew that Aelita was right. If they all skipped their classes for the day, it would be too suspicious. And having Jim and the principal watching their every move was something not needed on top of everything they had to work on now.

He turned his head back to the Yumi clone. After his encounter with the real Yumi on Lyoko, suddenly having to care for the clone was taking a darker meaning to him. Now he _definitely_ did not want to be around the stupid clone.

Ulrich snapped out of his thoughts as Odd waved his hand in front of his friend's face. "Stop daydreaming! C'mon, we gotta head back before Jim's class."

"Right." He waved at the Yumi clone to come follow them, which it did so with little argument.

As the trio rode the elevator up, Odd rested his hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get Yumi back."

"I hope so." _I don't even want to imagine what Xana's doing to her right now..._


	7. A Breath of Life

**AN: Hey guys, sorry about the wait on this chapter! I suffered a bit of a writer's block the past few days, and haven't been able to write anything! But finally, Chapter Six is up and things are definitely taking an interesting turn in this one! Now I'm taking my own personal liberties with the series, if you haven't quite noticed. But now we can finally get the plot moving!**

**Once more, thank you so much for the support for this story! I'm glad everyone is enjoying it so far! And I hope that you enjoy this new chapter as well!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: **A Breath of Life

No time for goodbye he said  
As he faded away  
Don't put your life in someone's hands  
They're bound to steal it away  
Don't hide your mistakes  
'Cause they'll find you, burn you

- Three Days Grace, "Get Out Alive"

* * *

Though he tried to hide himself from the others, it was nigh impossible when they shared all the same classes together. He knew neither of them would be interested in the concoction he was brewing within his intelligent mind, but Jeremie felt an almost sense of paranoia when he sat in his secluded corner of the classroom while Ulrich and Odd entered at an almost robotic pace. Since this morning, Yumi's message of plea replayed over and over within his head; all morning Jeremie had arranged equations and options within his mind to see what could prove to be most vital in bringing Yumi back to the real world.

He had begun running out of ideas when he received a new message from Yumi prior to Mrs. Hertz's class: **The factory, Jeremie. **

That was all he needed to be told.

He tried planning everything out - Ulrich and Odd would have no reason to pursue him if he were to leave the classroom, so they were no threat unless they discovered his scheme. No, his problem would be concerning Aelita since he knew she had taken roost at the factory. Jeremie thought he had wasted all his options until his brain came to pinpoint the idea of Kiwi. It was risky, and would only serve to not only make the gang even more upset with him, but he knew even Odd would hate him for it if the blonde-haired boy ever found out. And as Jeremie remembered well, Odd was the only one who didn't outright hate him for what he did. Disappointed in him, yes, but not hated.

Once the idea came to him - use Kiwi to lure Aelita out of the control room long enough to do what he needed to do - Jeremie had everything set. He would leave class halfway through in order to dognap Kiwi, and put his plan to the test.

During the lecture, Jeremie's eyes continued to wander over to Ulrich and Odd, whose bodies were completely hunched over. Their heads seemed too close together - something had happened, that Jeremie got the impression of. He hoped it didn't concern Yumi or else... _No, don't think like that, Belpois_, he reassured himself. _Yumi's fine. I'll try and run the Supercomputer's programs and then..._

And then what? He had considered the idea many times. He didn't have a plan beyond trying to get in touch with Yumi at the factory. He didn't have a completed program, and he had no doubt that neither did Aelita. There would be no way to bring Yumi onto the Earth's plain without a program to reconfigure her structure. Jeremie even considered protesting against Yumi's word, but the last time he turned his back on her resulted in the current situation. _She needs you, Belpois. Don't chicken out._

At the halfway point of the class, Jeremie raised his hand, feigning a sick look on his face. "Mrs. Hertz, I don't feel so well. May I go to the infirmary please?"

The gray-haired teacher sighed, readjusting her glasses, and turning her back on the class to resume her lesson. "Yes Jeremie."

Keeping himself composed as he left the classroom as quickly as possible, as soon as he was freed from the judging glances of Odd and Ulrich, Jeremie ran for the dorm building. Jim was nowhere on sight on the campus, which allowed for easy access to slip in and out with a compliant Kiwi in tow.

"That's a good puppy, Kiwi," Jeremie murmured as he disappeared into the sewers. "Just a little bit longer, and you'll get to run all you want, okay?"

Kiwi's response was a single sharp bark from his place within Jeremie's bag.

His scooter gone, Jeremie walked towards the entrance that led to the factory's location. He removed the manhole cover, careful to make sure there were no unexpected guests, and quickly fled to the inner interior of the decrepit building. Once at the elevator, he released Kiwi from his imprisonment and hit the Down button, sending the little dog to the second floor level.

With the plan set in motion, Jeremie hurried to find the second entrance that would allow him to enter the control room from the stairs. As he quietly crawled down the shaft that led to the control room, Jeremie had to swallow his sharp intake of air as he caught sight of Aelita at the Supercomputer. It was brief, as her attention was turned towards the elevator shaft where Kiwi began insistently barking.

"Kiwi?" she murmured, approaching the elevator doors that opened, displaying the small abandoned dog. "What are you doing here? Where is Odd?"

While Aelita had been distracted by Kiwi's sudden appearance, Jeremie began a quiet descent down the stairs and using all the leg muscle he could muster, he hit the button to the elevator as soon as Aelita was firmly inside.

"Jeremie?!" she gasped as the doors closed, sending her Up. Jeremie ran for the power controls for the elevator, and quickly shut the mechanism down after counting the seconds to make sure he perfectly timed that Aelita was let off at the first floor and not continuing her ride in the creaky elevator. He wanted her delayed, but not stuck.

Sighing with relief, Jeremie reclaimed his place at the chair of the Supercomputer, quickly observing Aelita's progress of the materialization program (_she's much farther on it than I am_, he silently applauded) before minimizing the window and pulling up the IM on the computer. Yumi was already logged on and had sent him a message: **Jeremie?**

**I'm here**, he typed her back. **What do I need to do?**

The response was quick: **Follow these coordinates I'll send to you.**

Jeremie knew he should've questioned how exactly Yumi had gotten such specific keys to enter, but in that moment all he saw was the light - Yumi would come back. That was all that mattered.

* * *

Once she realized Jeremie had ceased control to the elevator, Aelita began to dial Odd's number on the cellphone she had been given in case of emergencies. _He's gone mad!_ She tiredly paced as Odd's phone rang twice. At her feet ran Kiwi, mimicking Aelita's increasing frantic behavior.

Finally, after the fourth ring, Odd answered. "Aelita, you almost got me kicked out of-"

"It's Jeremie!" she said too loudly, practically screaming into the phone. "He's at the factory! He's stopped the elevator!"

"Jeremie what?" Odd's voice was nearly at scream-level as well. "Okay, okay, hold on, I'm coming down!"

"What about Ulrich?"

"I can't get back into class. It'll just have to be us who go. Hey, is that barking?"

"Odd, hurry!" Aelita ended the call, biting on her bottom lip as she tried to calculate what her next move was. The stair passage! Having spent enough time in the factory (and whenever she needed to take a break from the Supercomputer), Aelita took to exploring the facility and memorized every nook and cranny beneficial to her. She knew Jeremie too must've taken the secret passage to get into the control room, and that was exactly the same passage she took.

Leaving Kiwi behind as a footnote to Odd, Aelita near well copied Jeremie's exact footsteps, trotting like a cat sneaking upon its prey. Once she reached the overview, she watched as Jeremie was frantically typing in codes into the computer.

She became horrified at the implications of this. Was he destroying the process she had made on the materialization program?! She would not let him do so! "Jeremie, stop!" she cried, making her way down the stairs.

Though he started at her voice, Jeremie did not cease his typing. "Aelita, you have to understand-"

"The only thing I understand is that you sabotaged your way to get into here!" she snapped. "Jeremie, I had forgiven you once, but this... this is unforgiveable!"

Jeremie swerved in the chair. Aelita realized just how mad he looked - his eyes were completely shrunk to mere dots, and he seemed to be trembling. "Aelita, you don't understand! I can bring Yumi back!"

She didn't understand what he was saying to her. "You can't bring Yumi back! The materialization program, it's incomplete!"

"Yumi's helping me! She's giving me the commands to complete it!"

"Yumi..?" Aelita went back to the Yumi they had encountered on Lyoko. "Wait Jeremie, don't listen to Yumi! It's not her!"

"Of course it is!" he sniffled. "I'm almost done, Aelita! You have to give me this chance to make it right!"

"That's not the real Yumi, Jeremie! I know it sounds like the real Yumi, but trust me it's not!"

Jeremie smiled, almost looking like he was holding back a laugh. "Trust you? I want to trust you, Aelita, but I don't feel worthy of it. Just let me do this, okay?" He swerved again to face the computer, resuming his frantic typing. "It's almost complete. Soon Yumi will be back on Earth, with her family..."

Aelita's hands tightened into fists. She almost felt on the verge of tears, the situation was so stressful for her. Not to mention the sight of Jeremie had definitely knocked her momentum back. "Jeremie, listen to me," she said in a low voice. "It's Xana, it has to be. He's impersonating Yumi to get you to do something for him."

"Nonsense, Xana isn't that capable of doing such a thing."

"Jeremie, he brought back Yumi."

Jeremie stopped typing to look over his shoulder.

Swallowing hard, Aelita began to explain. "On Lyoko we encountered Yumi. It shouldn't have been possible, but it was! We think that Xana may have managed to recover her codes when she fell into the digital sea, and made her a form in order to manipulate us. If you keep on listening to what Yumi is telling you-"

"There is no active tower."

"There was one when we went to Lyoko, but it deactivated itself." Jeremie raised his eyebrow. "I know it sounds farfetched but Jeremie, Xana has unlocked greater abilities. You're just playing into his hand."

A defeated sigh came from the chair. "Aelita, I made a huge mistake when I ignored saving Yumi... There may be a chance..."

"It's too much of a risk, Jeremie. You don't have to do this."

"But we don't know until we try it!"

It was then that Aelita realized just how profoundly impacted by everything Jeremie was. His hand was the one that made the selection, his brain that made the choice - Aelita, over Yumi. His choices had played a part in everything they had gone through the past few months. He definitely had regrets over letting Yumi be terminated, there was no doubt about that. But Aelita began to see just how much Jeremie was suffering and how well on the breaking point he was. He no longer had friends, no one to turn to, and it was because of what he did.

If she still needed to cry, she didn't want to do it for herself - she felt the need to cry for Jeremie as well. Slowly, cautiously, she began to approach him, arms held out from her body. "Jeremie, I'm sorry. For what we did..."

"No Aelita, you were right in getting rid of me. I just caused trouble."

"It was a mistake-"

"A _colossal_ mistake-"

"We can make it better." She was nearly there. Her fingers gently touched the fabric of the chair...

"AELITA!" Odd's voice boomed above their heads. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Aelita jerked back, as did Jeremie, but because his fingers had still been resting on the keys, torn between finishing what he started and just ignoring his effort all together, he accidentally pressed down, unintentionally entering the final codes needed to complete the process.

"NO!" he cried out, reaching across the keyboard to grasp at the monitor, watching in horror as the program uploaded.

Aelita ran beside him, clapping her hands to her mouth. "Jeremie..."

"It was nearly completed..." he whispered back.

"What is going on here?!" shouted Odd as he stomped over to them, releasing Kiwi from his tight grip. "Jeremie, what're you doing here?!" He came around the opposite side of the chair, eyes narrowing at the screen. "What did you do? What is this?"

Jeremie released his hold on the monitor, sinking against his chair in defeat. "I... I shouldn't have..."

Frustrated by the lack of answers, Odd whirled the chair so that Jeremie was directly facing him. "What's going on here, Einstein? What're you doing here?"

Jeremie bit his bottom lip. "I was trying to help..."

"I can hear the scanners starting up!" cried Aelita who rocketed for the stairs to lead her down into the scanner room.

Odd looked from her to Jeremie and then back at Aelita's retreating form, deciding that investigating what exactly Jeremie had cooked up for them now was leading too. He followed the pink-haired girl down the stairs, dropping into the scanner room. All three scanners were humming. Odd gazed at all three of them, his legs shaking.

What had Jeremie done?

"It's this one, Odd!" Aelita cried, pointing to the middle one.

Odd stood beside her, gritting his teeth together. "I definitely don't like the look of this, Princess."

Aelita wrung her hands together, suddenly feeling an unpleasant chill go down her spine. From the corner of her eye, she saw Odd shiver as well.

For what seemed like an eternity, the scanner continued to boot up the new program, humming patiently as it did so. Finally, it began to shut down and the doors slowly opened. Aelita and Odd jumped back, eyes wide as saucer plates. Aelita had to suppress a scream that bubbled within the base of her throat.

What stood in the midst of the scanner was neither Yumi nor anyone they knew, at least as far as appearance would suggest. However, they knew the being that stood before them quite well.

"Hello Aelita," he crooned.

"Xana," Aelita gasped.


End file.
